Mascarene martin

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Mascarene martin
At Ranomafana, Madagascar

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Phedina
Bonaparte, 1855
Species:
P. borbonica
Binomial name
Phedina borbonica
(Gmelin, 1789)
Map showing the breeding areas in Africa
Approximate range in Africa

  Resident   Non-breeding

Synonyms

Cotyle borbonica Gmelin, 1789
Hirundo borbonica. Bonaparte, 1850.

The Mascarene martin or Mascarene swallow (Phedina borbonica) is a passerine bird in the swallow family that breeds in Madagascar and in the Mascarene Islands. The nominate subspecies occurs on Mauritius and Réunion and has never been found away from the Mascarene Islands, but the smaller Madagascan subspecies, P. b. madagascariensis, is migratory and has been recorded wintering in East Africa or wandering to other Indian Ocean islands.

The Mascarene martin is a small swallow that has grey-brown underparts becoming white on the throat and lower abdomen, dark grey-brown upperparts and a slightly forked tail. The underparts are heavily streaked with black. It nests in small colonies anywhere with suitably sheltered sites for constructing a nest, such as ledges, buildings, tunnels, caves or amongst rocks. The nest is a shallow cup of twigs and other plant material, and the normal clutch is two or three brown-spotted white eggs. The incubation and fledging times are unknown. The Mascarene martin has a heavy flight with slow wingbeats interspersed with glides, and frequently perches on wires. It feeds on insects in flight, often hunting low over the ground or vegetation. In eastern Africa, open habitats such as deforested areas are frequently used for hunting. A number of internal and external parasites have been detected in this species.

Tropical

overseas department
of Réunion to a status on Mauritius as a "species of wildlife in respect of which more severe penalties are provided".

Taxonomy

The Mascarene martin was first formally described in 1789 as Hirundo borbonica by German zoologist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his 13th edition of Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.[2] Gmelin based his account on "La grande hirondelle brune à ventre tacheté" that had been described in 1779 by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon in his multi-volume work Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.

Phedina in 1855.[5] The genus name is derived from the Greek phaios (φαιός) "brown" and the Italian rondine "swallow",[6] and the species name refers to the Île de Bourbon (old French name for Réunion).[7] There are two subspecies, nominate P. b. borbonica on Mauritius and Réunion, and P. b. madagascariensis in Madagascar.[8]

Phedina is placed within the Hirundininae subfamily, which comprises all swallows and martins except the very distinctive

DNA sequence studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae, broadly correlating with the type of nest built. These groups are the "core martins", including burrowing species like the sand martin; the "nest-adopters", which are birds like the tree swallow that utilise natural cavities; and the "mud nest builders", such as the barn swallow, which build a nest from mud. Mascarene martins nest in burrows and therefore belong to the "core martins".[9][10]

The genus Phedina is thought to be an early offshoot from the main swallow lineage, although the striped plumage suggests a distant relationship with streaked African Hirundo species.[11][12] The Brazza's martin, P. brazzae, formerly was included in this genus, but now is included in its own genus, Phedinopsis, due to the significant differences in vocalisations and nest type from its relative.[11][13] German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub separated the Madagascan population of the Mascarene martin as a full species, P. madagascariensis,[14] but more recent authorities have considered it to be only a subspecies, P. b. madagascariensis.[1][8]

Description

Madagascan subspecies at Bagamoyo, Tanzania

Adult Mascarene martins of the nominate subspecies are 15 cm (5.9 in) long with wings averaging 117 mm (4.6 in)

moults in December and January on Mauritius, and Madagascan breeders wintering on the African mainland moult in June and July.[8]

The Mascarene martin is a relatively quiet bird, but it has a warbled siri-liri siri-liri song given in flight or when perched;[8] some calls given by perched birds end in a glissando.[17] Other vocalisations may be used during mating or displays of aggression. There is a chip contact call,[8] and the young birds produce a fast twittering sound when begging for food.[17] Birds wintering in mainland Africa are usually silent.[16]

No other streaked swallow species occur within the island breeding range of the Mascarene martin, and in Africa the

brown-throated sand martin has similar structure and plumage colour to the Mascarene martin, but has plain, unstreaked underparts.[8] The small Mascarene swiftlet has longer, narrower wings than the martin, and a much lighter flight.[19] The Brazza's martin is smaller, has a plainer back and finer dashing on the throat and chest,[20] but there is no range overlap.[21]

Distribution and habitat

The Mascarene martin's breeding range is restricted to Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. The nominate subspecies breeds on Mauritius and Réunion and P. b. madagascariensis occurs in Madagascar. It may also nest on Pemba Island where it has been seen in the breeding season. Breeding habitat can be anywhere with suitable sites for constructing a nest, such as ledges, buildings, tunnels, caves or amongst rocks. The martin is found on the east side of Réunion between 200–500 m (660–1,640 ft), and on the south and west coasts of Mauritius. It also occurs on inland cliffs on Mauritius.[8]

The subspecies P. b. borbonica is resident on Mauritius and Réunion, although there are local seasonal movements on these islands, but the Madagascan subspecies is

Transvaal.[30]

Behaviour

Madagascan subspecies by Claude W. Wyatt, 1894

The Mascarene martin has a heavy flight with slow wingbeats interspersed with glides,[31] and may repeatedly return to a favourite perch.[32] This martin is often seen perched on wires,[33] and sometimes rests on sandy beaches.[32] The martin roosts in small flocks in bushes, on buildings or on cliffs. Sometimes it is joined at the roost by other birds, such as blue-cheeked bee-eaters in the Seychelles.[8]

Breeding

The Mascarene martin nests in the

altricial, hatching naked and blind.[35] The male helps to feed the young, and the chicks are fed by the parents after fledging,[8] and one pair on Mauritius was observed to feed its two chicks at roughly five-minute intervals.[34]

Feeding

The martins feed in flight, often low over the ground or vegetation. They hunt singly, in small groups or with other swallows and swifts, and are most active just before dusk.[8] The flying insects that make up their diet include scarab, click and other beetles, bugs and flying ants.[36] The feeding habitat in Madagascar includes woodlands, agricultural land, wetlands, semi-desert and open ground at altitudes up to 2,200 m (7,200 ft). In Mauritius and Réunion this martin feeds from sea level up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) over reservoirs and coasts, along cliffs and over Casuarina or other trees and scrubs, and in eastern Africa, areas deforested by logging or conversion to agriculture are used for hunting.[8][37]

Predators and parasites

Mascarene martins will

endemic trypanosome, Trypanosoma phedinae,[39] although the pathogenicity is unknown.[33] Protozoan blood parasites of the genus Haemoproteus have also been found in the martin on Mauritius,[40] although no blood parasites were found in a Madagascan specimen.[41] A new species of louse fly, Ornithomya cecropis, was first found on a martin in Madagascar,[42] and another bird from that island carried the feather mite Mesalges hirsutus, more commonly found in parrots.[43][44]

Status

Mascarene subspecies by Claude W. Wyatt, 1894

The breeding range of the Mascarene martin is restricted to three islands. Madagascar has an area of 592,800 square kilometres (228,900 sq mi),

Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.[1]

Tropical cyclones present a natural threat, particularly on the small islands inhabited by the nominate subspecies. The populations on Mauritius and Réunion were badly affected by a cyclone in February 1861, and a British ornithologist, Edward Newton, claimed not to have seen a single specimen on Mauritius between the six-day storm and June of the following year.[47] It took many years for this population to fully recover, but by about 1900 it was reported to be common but local, and in 1973–74 there were 200–400 pairs on Réunion and 70–75 pairs in Mauritius. More recent cyclones, like one in 1980, seem to have had less damaging effects than the 1861 storm.[8] A number of species in the region are vulnerable partly because they are restricted to one island, or are badly affected by habitat degradation or introduced predators, and several species have been lost from the Mascarene islands since human colonisation in the seventeenth century. The martin and the Mascarene Swiftlet occur on all the main islands, and are less vulnerable to the effects of human activities, especially since they can utilise houses for nest sites.[48]

In Mauritius, the Mascarene martin is legally protected as a "species of wildlife in respect of which more severe penalties are provided". It is illegal to kill any bird of the species or to take or destroy their nests under section 16 of the Wildlife and National Parks Act 1993,

overseas department of France, but the Birds Directive does not apply outside Europe, so there is no European-level bird protection legislation effective on the island, despite the possibility that European Union agricultural and other funding may be adversely affecting birds and vulnerable habitats.[48][51]

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22712198A94324072.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gmelin (1789) p. 1017.
  3. ^ Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc de (1779). "La grande hirondelle brune à ventre tacheté". Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (in French). Vol. 6. Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale. pp. 694–696.
  4. ISSN 1802-6842
    .
  5. ^ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1855). "Note sur les Salanganes et sur les nids". Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences (in French). 41: 976–979.
  6. ^ Jobling (2010) p. 302.
  7. ^ Jobling (2010) p. 74.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Turner & Rose (1989) pp. 155–157.
  9. PMID 15737595
    .
  10. PMID 8516319
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  11. ^ a b Turner & Rose (1989) p. 8.
  12. ^ Turner & Rose (1989) pp. 70–72.
  13. ^ Wolters, Hans Edmund (1971). "Probleme der Gattungsabgrenzung in der Ornithologie" (PDF). Bonner Zoologische Beitraege (in German). 22 (3–4): 210–219.
  14. ^ Sharpe & Wyatt (1894) pp. 199–208.
  15. ^ a b Dunning (2007) p. 327.
  16. ^ a b c Sinclair et al. (2002) p. 298.
  17. ^ a b Diamond (1987) p. 110.
  18. ^ Turner & Rose (1989) pp. 194–197.
  19. ^ Sinclair & Langrand (2004) p. 295.
  20. ^ Reichenow (1903) p. 425.
  21. ^ Turner & Rose (1989) p. 157.
  22. ^ Spottiswoode, Claire; Ryan, Peter G (2002). "First record of Mascarene martin Phedina borbonica in Sul do Save, Mozambique". Bird Numbers. 11 (1): 23.
  23. ^ Cohen, Callan; Leslie, Rob; Winter, Dave (1997). "Second record of Mascarene martin for Southern Africa". Africa – Birds & Birding. 2 (4): 14.
  24. ^ Williams & Arlott (1980) p. 260.
  25. ^ Zimmerman et al. (2005) p. 427.
  26. ^ Stevenson et al. (2004) p. 290.
  27. ^ Medland, R D (1988). "Mascarene martin, Phedina borbonica, near Chiromo". Nyala. 12 (1–2): 73.
  28. doi:10.5962/p.309784
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  29. ^ "March 2012". Seychelles Bird Records Committee. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  30. ^ Tarburton (1987) pp. 4, 176.
  31. ^ Langrand (1991) p. 254.
  32. ^
    doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1861.tb07460.x
    .
  33. ^ a b Diamond (1987) pp. 171–172.
  34. ^
    S2CID 83236867
    .
  35. ^ Turner & Rose (1989) p. 4.
  36. doi:10.1080/00306525.1997.9639723
    .
  37. doi:10.1080/00306525.1969.9634318
    .
  38. ^ Diamond (1987) p. 229.
  39. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1977.tb02053.x
    .
  40. ^ Peirce, M A; Mead, C J (1976). "Haematozoa of British birds. I. Blood parasites of birds from Dumfries and Lincolnshire". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 96 (4): 128–132.
  41. PMID 4210766
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  42. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.1971.tb00116.x
    .
  43. ^ Gaut, Jean (1952). "Sarcoptides plumicoles des oiseaux de Madagascar". Mémoires de l'Institut scientifique de Madagascar: Biologie animale (in French). 7: 81–107.
  44. ^ Schöne, Richard; Schmidt, Volker; Sachse, Margit; Schmäschke, Ronald (2009). "Federmilben bei Papageienvögeln" (PDF). Papageien (in German). 22 (2): 55–61.
  45. ^ Bureau of African Affairs (3 May 2011). "Background Note: Madagascar". US Department of State. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  46. ^ Petit & Prudent (2010) pp. 84–87.
  47. ^ Sharpe, Richard Bowdler (1870). "On the Hirundinidae of the Ethiopian Region". Proceedings of the Zoological Society: 286–321. (from 295).
  48. ^ a b Maggs (2009) pp. 10–12.
  49. ^ "Wildlife and National Parks Act 1993". Government of Mauritius. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  50. ^ de Klemm & Lausche (1986) pp. 357–360, 369–375, 488.
  51. ^ Papazoglou et al. (2004) p. 23.

Cited texts

External links
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